RESEARCH%20METHODOLOGY

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

• (Business Research Methods)

Week 6
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Surveys

• A Survey is a research technique in which data is
  collected from a sample of people using an
  interview or questionnaire
• Surveys are a crucial tool of business research
  methods
• Surveys are undertaken using verbal or written
  means to obtain primary data for the research
  project
• Surveys target individuals and/or organizations
  (respondents)
• Surveys are often quantitative, occasionally also
  qualitative in their orientation
• Surveys are usually done for descriptive purposes
  and for ascertaining the characteristics of a
  group, to measure attitudes and determine
  behavioural patterns, and sometimes to explore
  ideas or provide causal explanations

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Advantages of Undertaking Surveys

• Surveys have a number of advantages in terms of
  collecting, analyzing and assessing information
  from the sampled population
• Quickness
• Inexpensiveness
• Flexibility
• Efficiency
• Accuracy
• Helpful in the decision-making process
• The advantages are only evident when surveys are
  properly conducted!

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Potential Errors in Undertaking Surveys
Total Error
Acquiescence Bias Extremity Bias Interviewer
Bias Auspices Bias Social Desirability bias
Systematic Error (Bias)
Random Sampling Error
Non-Response Error
Deliberate Falsification
Respondent Error
Response Bias
Unconscious Misrepresentation
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Random Sampling Error and Systematic Error

• Random sampling errors arise when the group
  selected out of a population for the purpose of
  undertaking a survey is not totally
  representative of the population, i.e. a
  variation exists. Technically, a random sampling
  error is the difference between the results of a
  sample and the result of a census conducted using
  identical procedures. As the sample size is
  increased, the variation will decrease
• Systematic error results from some imperfect
  aspect of the research design which causes
  response error, or from a mistake in the
  execution of the research

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Respondent Error

• Surveys depend on individuals responding to the
  questions asked of them in written or verbal
  form. Respondents must thereby fulfill two
  preconditions
• Be cooperative
• Be truthful
• If these two preconditions are not fulfilled, the
  survey is unlikely to achieve its goal. Two major
  problems resulting from the non-fulfillment of
  these two preconditions by respondents are
• Non-response Error
• Response Bias

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Non-Response Error and Causes of Non-Responding

• Non-Response error is defined as the statistical
  difference between the results of a survey that
  includes those individuals who responded, and a
  perfect survey in which all individuals would
  have responded
• A consequent problem stemming from non-response
  error is that the survey-based research results
  may be unutilizable for decision-makers if those
  individuals who did respond to the survey are not
  representative of those who did not respond
• There are many reasons for not responding to
  surveys, for example, lack of time and
  preoccupation with routine work, absence from
  home, lack of interest in the survey, cultural
  factors (e.g. Middle East)

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Response Bias

• A response bias occurs when survey respondents
  tend to answer the questions posed to them in a
  certain direction, thereby consciously or
  unconsciously, or intentionally and
  inadvertently, misrepresenting the truth
• Response bias has been found to depend on factors
  such as the income or social class of respondents
  and their ethnic background.
• Example Mayoral and gubernatorial elections in
  the USA (white respondents and their supposed
  choice of candidates)

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Deliberate Falsification by Survey Respondents

• Deliberate falsification occurs when survey
  respondents deliberately give false answers.
  There are many reasons for this, for example,
  when respondents want to appear more intelligent,
  to avoid embarrassment, and to conceal personal
  information
• Examples Survey about shopping habits
  (respondent has forgotten expenses paid and does
  not want to admit this employees are asked to
  give their opinion about their employers and give
  false answers because they fear adverse
  consequences respondents wants to please the
  interviewer and give answers they think will
  bring this about survey respondents want to
  appear average so that they dont stand out too
  much)

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Unconscious misrepresentation by Survey
Respondents

• Unconscious misrepresentation occurs because of
  the specific situation or stimulus a survey
  respondent finds himself or herself in, or
  because of the nature of the questions asked,
  even though the respondent is trying to be
  truthful and cooperative
• Examples Respondent has forgotten dates and
  details and gives a best guess estimate, which
  may not be accurate respondent doesnt have
  enough time to think about the answer to a
  question feelings often cannot be expressed
  accurately in words)
• International surveys are particularly
  susceptible to unconscious misrepresentation by
  survey respondents due to cultural and
  communicational differences

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Types of Response Bias (1)

• Acquiescence Bias Tendency of survey respondents
  to agree with the questions asked of them,
  especially in regard to surveys relating to new
  or unfamiliar programs, products or ideas.
  Acquiescence bias can, on the other extreme,
  result in a respondent disagreeing with all
  questions asked of them
• Extremity Bias Tendency of survey respondents
  to use extremes when responding to questions,
  unlike other respondents who may adopt a neutral
  stance
• Interviewer Bias Tendency of survey respondents
  to give untrue answers because of the presence or
  influence of interviewers on them and their
  interest in appearing intelligent, more affluent
  or just willing to please

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Types of Response Bias (2)

• Auspices Bias Tendency of survey respondents to
  give answers to questions based on their
  perception of the organization which is
  undertaking the survey. For example, employees of
  CIIT may give quite different responses to an
  in-house CIIT survey than they would, were they
  asked by a neutral or unrelated organization
• Social Desirability Bias Tendency of survey
  respondents to give answers that put them in a
  favourable light with the interviewer. For
  example, people may claim to be more socially
  active than they really are because being
  socially active is considered a positive
  activity, or inflate their education and income
  levels to save face and gain prestige

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Potential Errors in Undertaking Surveys
Total Error
Systematic Error (Bias)
Random Sampling Errror
Data Processing Error Sample Selection
Error Interviewer Error Interviewer Cheating
Administrative Error
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Administrative Errors (1)

• Administrative Errors are the consequence of the
  improper administration or execution of the
  research task
• Administrative errors can reduce the value of the
  research and hence, its usefulness as a tool for
  decision makers
• There are many causes of administrative errors,
  including, for example, carelessness, confusion,
  neglect or omission
• Four major types of administrative errors are
  data-processing errors, sample selection errors,
  interviewer errors and interviewer cheating

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Administrative Errors (2)

• Data-processing Errors occurs when data are
  inaccurately entered by people into the computer.
  Such errors can be reduced or minimized by
  creating and applying careful processes and
  procedures for verifying each stage of data
  computerization
• Sample Selection Errors occur due to an improper
  or non-representative - sampling of individuals
  for the survey
• Interviewer Errors occurs when interviewers
  misrecord or fail to record responses due to
  inability, lack of experience, personal biases
  and preferences or some other reason
• Interviewer Cheating occurs when an interviewer
  falsifies questionnaires or fills in the answers
  himself or herself to selected questions or skips
  questions to avoid asking sensitive questions

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Techniques for Estimating Systematic Error

• Estimating systematic error can be quite a
  difficult undertaking. In practice, many business
  researchers use the rules-of-thumb method,
  meaning that they use past experience to try to
  quantify how much survey results differ from
  actual results
• Example Approximately 40 of survey respondents
  who claim they will definitely purchase Products
  X,Y and Z within the next 7 days will actually go
  out to the market and carry out this purchase,
  while only 10 who stated that they may purchase
  Products X, Y and Z will actually do as they have
  said
• To reduce the likelihood and extent of systematic
  errors, much care has to be given to designing a
  proper questionnaire, adequate training of
  interviewers and selecting the appropriate samples

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Types of Survey Research Methods (1)

• Surveys can be classified according to the mode
  of communication with the respondent (personal
  interviews, telephone interviews, mail surveys,
  internet surveys etc.)
• Surveys can be classified according to the type
  of questions asked of respondents (structured
  questions, disguised questions). Structured
  questions impose a limit on the number of
  permissible responses, while disguised questions
  try to hide the purpose of the study from the
  respondents and get information that respondents
  may otherwise be reluctant to give. Surveys often
  incorporate both structured and disguised
  questions

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Types of Survey Research Methods (2)

• Surveys can be classified according to their time
  frame (cross-sectional studies, i.e., where data
  is collected from respondents at a single point
  in time, and longitudinal studies, i.e., where
  data is collected from a group of respondents
  over a time interval, with a view to examining
  the level of continuity or change over time
• If data is collected from the same sample of
  individuals, the longitudinal study is called a
  panel study. A method for documenting data in
  panel studies is to use diaries for tracking

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Personal Interviews

• A personal interview is a form of direct
  communication in which an interviewer asks
  respondents in a face-to-face conversational
  situation
• Personal interviews can take place in various
  locations, often at the respondents place of
  residence or in their workplaces (door-to-door
  interviews), in shopping malls and in
  supermarkets (mall intercept interviews) and in
  other high-traffic areas (this has the advantage
  of lower cost but, on the downside, it has a
  higher refusal rate due to the respondents time
  limitation and there may be sampling issues to
  consider)
• Personal interviews have a number of advantages
  and disadvantages for business researchers

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Advantages of Personal Interviews (1)

• Opportunity for Feedback Interviewer can
  provide direct feedback to the respondent, give
  clarifications and help alleviate any
  misconceptions or apprehensions over
  confidentiality that the respondent may have in
  answering the interviewers questions
• Probing Complex Answers Interviewers can probe
  if the respondents answer is too brief or
  unclear. This gives interviewers some flexibility
  in dealing with unstructured questions and is
  especially suited for handling complex questions
• Length of Interview If the questionnaire is
  very lengthy, the personal interview is the best
  technique for getting respondents to cooperate,
  without overtaxing their patience

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Advantages of Personal Interviews (2)

• Complete Questionnaires Personal ensures ensure
  that the respondent will answer all questions
  asked, unlike in telephone interview where the
  respondent may hang up or in mail questionnaire
  where some questions may go unanswered
• Props Visual Aids Interviewers have the
  opportunity of showing respondents items such as
  sample products, graphs ands sketches, which can
  aid in their answers
• High Participation Interviewing respondents
  personally can increase the likelihood of their
  participation, as many people prefer to
  communicate directly verbally and sharing
  information and insights with interviewers

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Disadvantages of Personal Interviews (1)

• Cost Personal interviews are usually more
  expensive than mail, telephone and internet
  surveys. Factors influencing the cost of the
  interview include the respondents geographic
  proximity, the length and complexity of the
  questionnaire, and the number of non-respondents
• Lack of Anonymity Respondents are not anonymous
  in a personal (face-to-face) interview and may be
  reluctant to disclose certain information to the
  interviewer. Hence, considerable must be expended
  by the interviewer when dealing with sensitive
  questions to avoid bias effects on the
  respondents part
• Necessity for Callbacks When a person selected
  for interview cannot be reached the first time, a
  callback has to be scheduled which result in
  extra cost and time spent

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Disadvantages of Personal Interviews (2)

• Variance Effects It has been shown that the
  demographic characteristics of the interviewer
  can influence the answers of the respondents. In
  one study, male interviewers had a much larger
  variance of answers than female interviewers in a
  sample of most female individuals
• Dishonesty Interviewers cheat to make their
  life easier and save time and effort
• Personal Style The interviewers individual
  questioning style, techniques, approach and
  demeanor may influence the respondents answers
• Global Considerations Cultural aspects may
  influence peoples willingness to participate in
  an interview (e.g. repressive Middle Eastern
  cultures discourage females from being questioned
  by male interviewers)

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Telephone Interviews

• In telephone interviews, respondents are
  contacted by telephone in order to collect data
  for surveys
• Telephone interviewing has been used for decades
  and, in some ways, has advantages over other
  methods of undertaking surveys
• With improvements in the IT-field, computers can
  be used to assist in telephone interviewing, and
  answers given by respondents can be entered by
  interviewers directly into the computer, saving
  effort, time and cost

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Advantages of Telephone Interviews (1)

• Speed Speed is a major advantage of telephone
  interviewing, enabling data to be collected on
  very short notice (example a union decides
  whether to organize a strike by
  telephone-interviewing members over a one-day
  period)
• Cost Telephone interviews are comparatively
  cheaper to conduct than personal interviews. No
  travel time and travel cost is involved.
• No Face-to-Face Contact Because telephone
  interviews lack the direct element of
  interaction, respondents may be more willing to
  provide certain information that they would be
  reluctant to disclose in a personal
  (face-to-face) interview

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Advantages of Telephone Interviews (2)

• Cooperation People may be reluctant to allow
  interviewers into their homes, but they may be
  willing to cooperate by letting themselves be
  interviewed over the telephone
• Callbacks Telephone callbacks are easier to
  perform than personal interview callbacks

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Disadvantages of Telephone Interviews (1)

• No Face-to-Face Contact Interviewer may not be
  able to record the respondents data fast enough
  and the respondent, who cannot see this, may
  continue to add data. Also, due to the visual
  communication gap, there is a greater tendency
  for interviewers to record no-answers and
  incomplete answers than in a personal interview
• Cooperation Research shows that response rates
  in telephone interviews are declining with the
  passage of time and the availability of
  respondents has also declined for various
  reasons. Also, reaching executives in workplaces
  can be very difficult due to tight schedules and
  the work load

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Disadvantages of Telephone Interviews (2)

• Lack of Visual Mediums Visual aids cannot be
  used by interviewers in telephone interviews,
  hence, surveys which need visual aids to help
  respondents cannot be undertaken with this survey
  method
• Limited Duration Length of interview time in a
  telephone interview is limited. Too long
  interview times may result in exasperated
  respondents hanging up the telephone or refusing
  to answer questions
• Representative Samples Using the telephone
  directory as the basis for sampling can be
  problematic in the sense that many persons are
  unlisted or do not have telephones, but whose
  opinions are nevertheless important
• Global Considerations In many countries, people
  are reluctant to divulge information over the
  telephone

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Self-Administered Questionnaires
Self-Administered Questionnaires
Printed Questionnaires
Electronic Questionnaires
Mail
E-Mail
In-Person Drop-Off
Internet Website
Inserts
Interactive Kiosk
Fax